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Monday, June 25, 2018

May/June Update

Hi friends!

It's almost July and I'm just now getting around to updating. Better late than never I guess......

May was a pretty low month for me, so it was nice when June rolled around with some exciting plans and a fun trip. It didn't help that the last 2 weeks of May literally had one sunny day, I was still struggling to get my spending under control, and our schedule was shook up by Nakoma and Phoebe moving back to Tennessee. For someone who thrives in sunshine and routine, it was tough.

But sunshine has returned! I took a refreshing trip! Nakoma and Phoebe seem to be getting settled! Nakoma started her new job at Amazon in Chattanooga and it seems like an awesome opportunity for her. I miss them, especially Phoebe, but I'm excited to have my freedom back.

So on to the recap:

As I said, May was a spendy month.....but some of my spending was totally worth it! The biggest purchase was this sofa I found on Facebook Marketplace. It's from Pottery Barn and was only a few years old. Score! And it looks great with our rug.....and dog.

I still need to get some pillows and an end table, but the room is coming together nicely.

The week before Nakoma and Phoebe left we took a trip to the Virginia Safari Park. It was such a nice day and Phoebe had a blast.

I loved the aviary with parakeets! Phoebe liked seeing the giraffes and monkeys. The Safari park also has a drive-thru area where you can feed the large animals like elk and buffalo!

I finally bought a few frames and finished framing my grandmother's art. While I would like to get them professionally framed, at $150 a pop it isn't something that will be done anytime soon. So I went to Michael's and bought some basic frames and got them hung on my wall. I love I am able to display her art again. I inherited 4 new painting when my Dad passed away in 2014, but had nowhere to display the paintings at my last home. The little girl and the woman are paintings of my Mom and the man is my grandfather.

Phoebe's birthday was June 9th, so before they left we celebrated her special day with her favorite meal of spaghetti and had cupcakes for dessert.

I sure miss this little girl!

The Farmer's Market has been in full swing! Here are a couple of my favorite things from the last few markets. I really enjoyed the asparagus and strawberries last month and am loving peaches, raspberries, blueberries, and tomatoes now!

Remington finished 10th grade the beginning of June. His summer is in full swing working with a landscaper, in addition to his regular job at the local burger joint. Here he is all cleaned up for his school's banquet.

I took an 11 day solo road trip to Nebraska this month to visit friends and family. I hadn't taken a solo road trip for 10 years so I was thankful my anxiety didn't get the better of me. I'm working on a blog post about my trip that will be coming soon.

Chad and I have also talked about taking a three day weekend and going to DC or somewhere close this summer. Otherwise since we are footloose and fancy free from childcare we'll probably hike, hit some breweries, concerts, and local restaurants as well as yoga several times a week.

Looking forward to July, we have some house projects in the works and Chad's parents are coming out to help with some of them. We plan to do a ton of painting and some electrical work and we have hired a guy to replace some doors and windows. This fall we also plan to redo the family room floors.

Now that I am back and refreshed from my trip, I have been working on the budget, changing a few things up and planning for the future. We are looking for additional avenues of income, possibly renting out our guest room through Airbnb, in addition to renting out our basement apartment. Since our emergency fund is fully funded we will start sending the majority of our extra income to house projects, but will continue to save a smaller amount. Eventually we would like to have six months of expenses saved, but we are comfortable with a little over three months saved now. With the last few months of spending and traveling our emergency savings and house savings have been at a standstill, so I want to see it start growing again. I also want to try to get better at meal planning and lower the grocery bill. Our grocery budget seems high for a family of three, especially when our teenager hardly eats here.

As I said above, I am working on a blog post about my trip to Nebraska. I also want to get back to budgeting posts as well as updates on our house projects! So stay tuned....